DIY Pocket Chart

Okay, so this isn't technically "Ball and Skein" related, but I made it and I love it, so I'm sharing.

I am a high school teacher, and the school in which I teach allows students to use their own technology in the classroom. They are allowed cell phone use before and after school and during lunch, and they can use them for music and/or internet if the lesson plan permits. I like allowing them to have music while they are working independently, and it is often helpful for them to have internet access. HOWEVER (this is a big however), I really hate seeing cell phones when it is not an approved portion of the lesson. I really wanted to come up with a way to manage phones when they are not allowed to use them.

I saw a Pinterest pin in which a teacher had students line phones up on the marker tray of the whiteboard, but I just don't have enough room to do that; my whiteboard is rather small. I considered having my husband make me a small wooden caddy to have students put phones in...kind of like this:

My vision had smaller cubbies, but I decided to scrap that idea (much as I love him, I doubt he'd have gotten it done this summer--oh, he'd have agreed to do it and planned on doing it, but it just wouldn't have happened).

So, now what??? I thought that it would be nice to find a pocket chart with deep pockets that students could put their phones in--and maybe even something cute. Guess what? They don't make cute pocket charts. No one does. I searched and searched and finally decided that I'd have to do it on my own. My original plan was to have individual pockets for each phone, like a calculator pocket chart:



The problem with that idea is that phones are not all the same size. So, I eventually decided, instead, to have five rows with two large pockets in each row to allow for differently-sized cell phones. I went shopping at Walmart for fabric and found an appropriate fabric on clearance. I'm not really loving the fabric itself, but I think it works for this purpose. I backed it with a solid green and wrapped it around to create an attractive border on the front.

                                     



I think it turned out rather nice. Unfortunately, I also think I'm addicted.

 

 I've already bought the fabric to make my calendar pocket chart, and if it turns out all right, I may just open up an etsy shop and offer my services to the rest of the unfortunate teachers who just can't find attractive pocket charts.